CAREER Public Servant Trevor Thomas, has been sacked as Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry, but will remain in the public service, State Minister, Joseph Harmon, announced on Thursday.
Thomas a casualty of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into drug procurement at the Ministry of Public Health, had his services terminated on March 1, 2017. Mr. Harmon made the disclosure on Thursday during his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Thomas’ termination comes months after the COI headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ret’d), Winston Cosbert, recommended that he be fired due to “his inability to effectively carry out the mandate of the Ministry.”
The commission was launched into the unauthorised disclosure of information on the procurement of pharmaceuticals at the Public Health Ministry. It is alleged that Western Scientific Company Limited had conspired with staff of the Materials and Management Unit (MMU), to gain a competitive advantage over other suppliers.
The career public servant will be replaced by the Deputy Permanent Secretary, Collette Adams, who will act until a substantive appointment is made. However, although Thomas has been relieved of his duties, he will remain in the Public Service, according to the Minister of State.
Thomas had been employed at the Ministry of Public Health between 2012 to August 2015 as the Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary but was on September 1, 2015, appointed as Permanent Secretary to the said ministry. He served as PS at several other ministries as well as the Teaching Service Commission.
In its report dated December 12, 2016, the Commission stated that Thomas was “willingly evasive and deceptive” while being questioned by the Board of Inquiry, noting too that his statements during his testimony were inconsistent.
Prior to 2015, the Health Ministry procured pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment for the regions without consultations.
In 2015, however, a new procedure was introduced allowing for the 10 Administrative regions to individually submit their lists based on their needs. Those lists are submitted to the Ministry’s procurement department for procurement of the required items.
However, Thomas found difficulty with the system and told the Board of Inquiry that the regions were challenged to prepare their lists despite training which was facilitated by the Supply Chain Management Complex (SCMC). He even suggested that the Ministry of Public Health would return to the old procurement system as the current one was a failure in his eyes.
Thomas delivered his last speech as Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry on Tuesday February 28, 2017, during a Regional Health Officers and Programme Heads Meeting at the Regency Suites where he called for public health officials to be accountable.
In calling for fiscal prudence, Thomas alluded to the Global Fund/Ministry of Health debacle which resulted in the Government repaying Global Fund in excess of US$80, 000 because of poor record keeping and accountability.
This mistake must not be repeated, Thomas had urged.
In 2016, Global Fund disclosed that an investigation of its malaria grant to Guyana for a period of two and half years up to June 2015, had unveiled irregularities including falsification of data and fraudulent expenditures totaling some $11 million.
“The investigation found a series of irregularities relating to the inflation of programmatic data, the fabrication of underlying programmatic documentation, and anomalies in fuel consumption and ‘per diem’ claims. These irregularities affected expenditures totaling US$72,973 which the OIG considers to be non-compliant, and therefore potentially recoverable,” the report by the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) had stated.
It was noted that the irregularities were facilitated by the inadequate management of the Global Fund malaria programme by the Vector Control Services (VCS) of the Ministry of Health, as a result of poor record-keeping and a failure to respond to Global Fund Secretariat Management Actions.
Meanwhile, in the coming days, Minister of State said Guyanese can expect a sweep of changes with respect to Permanent Secretaries of the Government Ministries.